FORTUNE -- Todd Combs, the up-from-obscurity investment managerwhom Warren Buffett has made famous simplyby hiring him, met just about all of the Berkshire Hathawaybrass that he ever needs to a little over a week ago.
That did not happen because Combs, 39, officially arrived for work.He's winding up his hedge fund, Castle Point, and won't joinBerkshire until January.
But in the interim he accepted a special invitation to attend afour-day Berkshire (BRKA, Fortune500) board meeting held in early November. It began with anOmaha dinner on Thursday, November 4, at Piccolo Pete's, Buffett'sfavorite restaurant these days.
That evening was Combs' first introduction -- and vice versa -- tosuch board members as Bill Gates; Tom Murphy, the former head ofCapital Cities/ABC; and the newest board member, Steve Burke, chiefoperating officer of Comcast (CMCSA, Fortune500).
For the next day-and-a-half, Combs sat in on presentations given byeight Berkshire managers about their operations. "Eight interestingbusiness stories" is how Buffett described theseto Fortune.
Among those presenting were another Berkshire newcomer, Matt Rose,CEO of Burlington Northern Santa Fe; Ajit Jain, who runsBerkshire's highly important reinsurance operations; and DavidSokol, whom Fortune recentlyprofiled as "Buffett'sMr. Fix-It." Sokol, who has had many a Berkshire assignment, iscurrently running NetJets, which he has turned around from a loserto a company well into the black.
Combs, of course, did not attend the board's two business meetings,held on Friday and early Saturday. But next on Saturday came themeeting's pièce de résistance: an overnight trip on a privateBurlington Northern train that traveled west to the largest U.S.coal mine, Arch Coal's Black Thunder mine in Wyoming. Buffett foundthe visit "fascinating."
We have no quote from Combs. He's still ducking the press. But wedo have a picture -- the first to actually catch him in a suit --to be added to those taken by Bloomberg News earlier at a hockeyrink. This picture was snapped at the Piccolo Pete's dinner onThursday.
The Combs portfolio
In the board's business sessions, Buffett says, he clarified whatrole Combs will be playing when he reports for work in January. Thebackstory here concerns Berkshire's October 25th press release inwhich Buffett, announcing Combs' hiring, indicated that Combs wouldbe running "a significant portion" of Berkshire's money. Thatwording, plainly imprecise, led some media commenters to believethat Combs was going to be handling megabillions of Berkshire'shuge investment portfolio, which at the end of September was $113billion in size.
But Buffett told the board that he and Combs had discussed Combs'initially running perhaps $2 billion to $3 billion. Either amountwould greatly exceed the $400 million that Combs was running atCastle Point.
Amounts of $2 billion to $3 billion, though, would be roughlycomparable to the sums managed by Lou Simpson, who has long been incharge of investing the funds of GEICO, a big Berkshire division.Simpson, 74, whose offices are in Chicago, is retiring at the endof this year.
Combs will be paid, says Buffett, as Simpson has been: by salaryand an incentive compensation plan that gives him a proportion ofthe amount by which his performance beats the S&P500 over a three-year period. Says Buffett, "You want to get awayfrom the short-term ups and downs of the market when you're payingsomeone for running money, and a plan like this does the job."
The details of Combs' position at Berkshire make it clear that he'sentering into an extended trial, during which both Buffett andvice-chairman Charlie Munger (who met Combs first and sent him toBuffett) will be assessing the skills and thinking that their newmanager will be bringing to the work.
Buffett's original description, set forth three years ago, of hisplan to hire someone to manage money stated that more than oneperson might be signed up. The possibility that an additionalinvestment manager or two could be hired to join Combs thereforeexists.
At Castle Point, Combs' mandate has been financial servicesinvestments. But at Berkshire, Buffett told the board, Combs willin no way be restricted as to what he can invest in. "He can rangewherever he wants to," said Buffett.
That happens to be what Buffett has done, of course. At varioustimes, he's been heavy in junk bonds, foreign currencies, andderivatives (a part of the Berkshire portfolio right now). He'slikely to be similarly eclectic as he goes forward, with whatincontestably will be megabillions. He just recently turned 80, buthe has absolutely no intention of retiring from his three jobs:chairman, CEO, and über-investor at Berkshire.
Disclosure: Carol Loomis is a long-time friend of Warren Buffett'sand a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder. 
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